The Mythology of the Hunger Games
by Gamemaker John
Summary: Every Hunger Games has its victor. Every victor has a story... In attempting to explain the 75 years of Hunger Games, as well as the profound cultural impact they had on the Districts and the Capitol, these tales will demonstrate how a nation instituted such violent means...and just how deep the imprint was. This is the Mythology of the Hunger Games.
1. Walt Dysmond (D5)

**1st Annual Hunger Games**

**Walt Dysmond-District Five**

The districts were in a state of decay. Women had to deal with no husband coming back from the war. Children lost fathers. Homes were decimated, hospitals destroyed, schools evacuated and entire towns leveled. Cries of desperation and horror filled the air as the Capitol soldiers marched into each district and took back control. Twelve were defeated, one was obliterated. The citizens were in a state of shock as the Capitol demanded revenge. It came a few months later...in the form of the Hunger Games.

The news came to the districts via a mandatory television viewing. President Nero came on and recited the Treaty of Treason for the first time. When the rules of the Hunger Games were outlined, almost everyone thought it was a joke. They hardly believed it. But, nevertheless, The Capitol hired Gamemaker Albanus, an arena was constructed, and a date for the reaping was established. As the day approached, almost everyone signed up for tesserae because food shortages were common as most districts gave their food to the soldiers. Tension rose as the people started to realize that the Hunger Games were real. They were real. Twenty three children will die and they would be forced to celebrate their demise.

Reaping day came. Twenty four tributes were chosen. There was not a dry eye in sight. Wails of the mothers filled the air as they were taken away into the train cars. The cameras sopped up every last drop of desperation on their faces. At that point, the reality of the situation truly sunk in. No one thought they would be picked. But 24 of them were. Something that eluded their worst dreams was now reality. They were chosen and were taken into the unknown Capitol, the same city that had killed their friends and family.

While the districts unanimously hated the Games (and for good reason), the Capitol citizens regarded the tribute trains with a mixture of relief and disgust. On one hand, these are children. Just children, who are being forced to die. And on the other, they are the spawn of the men who attacked their city and tried to kill them. No one cheered when the trains emerged in the Capitol. The tribute parade and interviews had yet to be formed, so the tributes remained faceless children with no discernible personalities. It was far easier to watch someone die if you don't know who they were.

Only one day passed between the tributes' arrival and the beginning of the Hunger Games. They stayed one day in an apartment and got basic advice of the rules by the Gamemakers. The first tributes had no knowledge of strategy or alliances. They simply knew that they would be dropped into an arena and left to fend for themselves.

The next day, as the TV screens turned on across Panem, citizens faces turned to horror as they set their eyes on what would become an iconic image in Panem: the Cornucopia. Twenty four tributes surrounded the giant statue, overflowing with supplies and weapons. Beyond that was a simple forest. The First Annual Hunger Games had begun...

...and they began with a whimper. Not one single person died in the first day. Not one. About half of the tributes ran in to get supplies, the other half dispersed into the woods. Walt was one of the few who ran into the Cornucopia. He quickly took a backpack of choice supplies and a single sword. The tributes were wary of each other, particularly as they handled deadly weapons. They avoided each other as they ran off into different directions. Everyone's strategy was to flee, to escape. Not on fight happened.

Without a prerequisite for murder, without seeing it done before, the tributes didn't want to partake in it. They had never seen the Hunger Games, so they had never seen kids kill each other. Without seeing the brutal fights that years later would become mandatory viewing, the tributes viewed killing as abominable-not justifiable, as it would soon be perceived.

The Games continued without bloodshed. After three days in which four tributes died (two each from dehydration and eating poisonous food), the Gamemakers tried to induce fighting. All of the tributes had made camp in the woods, avoiding everyone else and trying to survive in the wilderness. It was about as interesting as watching grass grow. The Capitol citizens regarded it with little interest.

The Gamemaker's social experiment had failed. No one wanted to kill. The whole point of the Hunger Games was to make the people of the districts fight each other instead of the Capitol. When the children are ripped away; tensions grow. But without the bloodshed, nothing is accomplished.

So the Gamemakers started to force the children to fight. They sent in Peacekeepers on Day 5. A circle of soldiers that shot the kids with rubber bullets until they ran. The tributes found each other, and were forced to fight. Walt was one of the tributes who realized that he was going to have to kill. He used his sword twice that day, to kill Meredith and Ivy, the girls from 7 and 11 respectively. That day, seven died from other tributes or the deadly Peacekeepers...bringing the total down to thirteen.

Now the country started to take notice. The Capitol regarded it as amusing entertainment. With the fights and blood, ratings skyrocketed. The districts however, watched with more and more horror. Far worse to watch your child die of another's hand than to watch them die in the wild.

As tributes began to run out of supplies, several of them raided the Cornucopia, risking death for more food, water, or matches. Since no one was guarding the statue, the Gamemakers soon realized that the spoils were for anyone to take. On Day 7, all of the food in the arena was taken away by hovercraft. A feast was announced to the tributes, set in three days' time.

Between Day 7 and Day 10, two tributes died. One from getting bit by a snake and one from a run-in with Walt. One that tenth day, the feast took place, with a bounty of food present for the taking. Now, some casualties started to occur. Seven of the remaining eleven tributes died, mostly from each other. The soon-to-be-victor, Walt, didn't partake in the feast, instead choosing to hide with his remaining supplies of food. Desperate for deaths, the Gamemakers poisoned the food, and two more died in the subsequent days.

Walt and the other tribute (Abigail from District One), went to the Cornucopia for the final battle. It was a lackluster finale; Walt ambushed her while she slept and slit her throat in only three seconds. And with one move, he became the first victor of the Hunger Games.

The broadcast ended and the nation experienced the first of what would be a total of 75 Games. Mothers wept for their fallen children. Siblings felt lost without their brothers and sisters. Capitol denizens rejoiced in the free entertainment. The rebellion lost all the steam it had. Watching the children being forced to fight one another took the drive out of even the most iron-willed district soldier. The Capitol resumed its firm control of the country.

The first Hunger Games has finished. The odds were in Walt Dysmond's favor. Twenty three others were not as fortunate...

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out how a small girl named Heather managed to take the crown from her toughest competition in the Second Hunger Games.**


	2. Heather Montagee (D11)

**2nd Annual Hunger Games**

**Heather Montagee-District 11**

Exactly one year after the first fateful reaping, and the subsequent successful tournament, the process of the Hunger Games began again.

For the districts, the wounds of the first hadn't fully healed yet. The shock of seeing children die was still very present. And they were still picking themselves up after the war. The thought of experiencing the pain and sorrow of the Hunger Games again was just unthinkable.

But of course, the reaping occurred whether they wanted to or not.

The lackluster ceremony lasted for only a few minutes. The mayor of the respective districts read the Treaty of Treason and then drew the two names. It was quick, like ripping off a bandaid. But of course, bandaids hurt. Again, there was crying and sadness in the entire district as people watched the child get chosen. In some of the smaller districts like Eight or Twelve, most people knew the tribute personally. It would make the coming days all the more painful.

The twenty four tributes were allowed only a few minutes with loved ones before departing on the train. The cameras were even more insistent now, trying to get as many possible pictures of the tributes. Everyone grew to resent the paparazzi.

In the Capitol, the citizens prepared for another few weeks of the tournament. The first one was...interesting. They enjoyed watching the reality TV show side of things. such as tributes struggling to survive and debating whether to kill. However, the fights were brutal, and many didn't like watching them. Still, this was Capitol law now, and it must be obeyed.

Again, the tributes had only one day to spend in the Capitol before being shipped off into the arena. The Gamemakers made sure they understood the rules (such as the bombs beneath the tribute plates and the food in the Cornucopia). In that time, the tributes kept to themselves, including Heather. She knew that the absolute best case scenario was that every kid around them would die in the next few weeks, and that was with an extreme amount of luck. Better not to get attached to them.

The next morning came and the tributes were shipped off to the arena. At that time, they were still allowed to wear whatever clothing they wanted, so most tributes wore comfortable shorts and shirts, expecting the arena to be identical to the one before: forest. But when Heather rose up on her tribute platform, she found something completely different.

The arena was located in the most frigid areas of District Seven. The trees were coated in frost, and the tributes' breath came out white. A light layer of snow covered the ground, although it was springtime. The tributes stared in amazement and fear at the inhospitable landscape. After they stood shivering for a minute, the gong sounded and the Games began.

Unlike with the first Games, most tributes ran in for supplies. Seeing the massive amounts of casualties because of lack of food or water from the year before, the tributes realized the importance of the items in the Cornucopia. Heather was one of those tributes.

Similarly to the previous year, almost no tributes actively sought out a fight. Of course, everyone grabbed a weapon first, but not one tribute planned to use it immediately; it was simply a precaution. There was one death though, when the boy from District Seven, Atticus, killed his district partner when he thought she was trying to spear him from behind. Once that cannon boomed, the tributes dispersed the area, fearful of another death.

Heather ran from the Cornucopia with a sleeping bag, a knife, bread, and iodine. She spread out from the rest of the tributes, and searched for warmer climate. For the next four days, she used her sleeping bag to great use as she stored her own body heat to survive. As a berry picker in her district, she knew edible plants fairly well, and had little trouble finding food. Water was easy: snow was on the ground everywhere. In that timespan, a total of seven tributes died of the cold, leaving sixteen left in the arena.

On the fifth day, a bitter snow storm swept the arena. It began in the west, leaving two tributes buried alive. Those deaths amused the Capitol to no end. The tributes hurried to the east, desperate to get out of the storm's way. In one day, all of the remaining tributes were located in one corner of the arena, where the snowfall was weakest.

Heather, who had already been in the east, had been rested and ready for the battles to come. In such a small environment, the tributes ran into each other frequently. Most of the times, they dispersed into opposite directions. Twice, a fight occurred and one tribute died as a result, the boy from Two. Of the thirteen left, no one was seeking out other tributes. As was the norm in the early Games, fleeing from danger was preferable to seeking out fights.

On Day 7, Heather ran out of food. The berries and roots she had relied on were now packed under rock-hard ice and snow. The arena turned inhospitable. Only tributes who had excellent outerwear and enough food had a chance. Heather was on her way out.

In two days, in which a few more tributes died, Heather began to slowly freeze to death. As her prospects looked worse and worse, she came to the same realization that every tribute saw: she was going to have to kill to survive. She took her knife and started to search for more tributes. She needed their food and clothes to keep warm. Additionally, every tribute dead meant less time in the horrible arena.

Heather came across sets of footprints in the snow. Several of them lead to dead tributes frozen in snow, but she eventually found James from District 5 still alive. She was forced to slit his throat to steal his jacket and beef jerky.

The Games continued on this path for three more days. Heather regretfully killed again, using her smaller body to better sneak up on her victim: Adrianna from Three. Only three tributes lived to see Day 12, due to more fights as well as the freezing cold. As before, the Gamemakers wanted a finale, so the tributes met up at the Cornucopia. There, among the dead bodies from the first day, Heather fought with Jackson and Livvie, both from District 4. After Jackson killed his district partner, Heather ambushed him from behind and stabbed his back. As he body lay bleeding on the snow covered ground, Heather became the second victor.

The Second Hunger Games have finished. The odds were in Heather Montagee's favor. Twenty three others weren't as lucky...

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Thanks for reading! One of my reviewers suggested that readers can send in ideas for tributes or Games. This sounds like a good idea! If you want to contribute, drop me a review illustrating a character or an arena you wish to read about and I will write it and credit you in the chapter. Of course, I cannot do this for every suggestion, but I will try to do as many as possible. Hope you liked it and I hope you like my story!

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out how an intelligent District Three boy managed to win using strategy and guile.**


	3. Anthony Jennings (D3)

**3rd Annual Hunger Games**

**Anthony Jennings-District 3**

It was the third year of the Games.

The rules were slowly being integrated into society. Tesserae was a prized commodity that almost everyone needed, but it was risky, so risky. Everyone knew what happened if you were reaped. They had all seen it, twice in fact! But with the districts in ruins, food was priceless.

Anthony felt this first-hand when he had tesserae for each of his family members...all twenty two of them. And so, at thirteen years old, the District Three mayor drew one of his forty six slips at the reaping. He was officially a tribute.

The Capitol people began to actually look forward to the Games now, particularly the younger generation. Watching was enjoyable when they didn't know any of the tributes. So when the districts train pulled into the stations, a few people gathered to see the contestants arrive.

Again, one night passed between the arrival of the tributes and the start of the Games. However, things were different among tributes. A few of the more intelligent children realized that knowing their competition was crucial. The last two years proved that knowing others' strategies could save your life. Anthony started to talk to the other tributes, to get a feel for them. People learned who the threats were and who was too weak to survive.

The first day arrived. Anthony brought several warm overcoats and jackets, knowing that the arena could be anything, and last year was an icy forest. But when he rose into it, he found a barren landscape of rocky formations.

The gong sounded, and he instantly ditched his coats as they would slow him down. He went to the outskirts of the Cornucopia, gathering supplies and food. A cannon sounded, the girl from District 7. He looked over at saw Jason from 12 standing with an ax in her stomach, and regret on his face. Anthony fled the scene, not risking his life for more food.

Another tribute died that day: Elisabeth from 2. Tributes were beginning to realize that killing off weaker competition on the first day greatly helped their chances. Anthony's objective was to evade rather than seek out fights. He, as a small boy, was fearful of his competition and rightly so.

Three days passed. Again, many died from natural causes. Anthony had plenty of food, but no water, so he risked drinking from streams and rivers in the mountainous region. He found a cave right outside a brook, and took delight in the hiding place.

Anthony hid for another four days. He began to ration his food, and knew that he didn't have that much left. He only hoped to last long enough to outlast the other tributes, some of whom were beginning to kill. Two died from other tributes in that time frame, and seven from either infection or dehydration and one from an unfortunate run-in with a mountain lion.

On the morning of Day 8, Vera from District Four ran into Anthony's cave. She was wounded from a fight with Jason, and needed shelter to recover. When he heard her coming, he hid. After an hour, he realized that she was going to stay for a while. He remembered that she was not physically strong, and she had no weapons. He could easily take a nearby rock and brain her to death. He knew what he had to do to survive. He stepped forward and...

...talked to her. When Anthony stepped from behind a boulder, she tried to flee. But he told Vera that he had medicine for her injury and some food. He, in a calming voice, initiated Panem's first alliance.

Scared and traumatized, the two formed a coalition. Anthony was delighted to find dried fish in her satchel; fishing was Vera's greatest strength. He shared his medicine, and she was almost fully healed in three days. They were as close to friends as it was possible to be in the Games.

But even with Vera's fishing skills, they began to run out of food. Anthony, the leader of the two, argued to make the risky walk back to the Cornucopia. But Vera knew that a tribute was guarding the spoils for himself and had several weapons with them. She told Anthony and they agreed to wait until they had nothing left. He knew that the two of them were not strong enough to take down a larger tribute.

Day 16 rolled by. By that time, only five tributes remained: Anthony and Vera, Jason, Isis, and Jon (the tribute at the Cornucopia). The alliance agreed that it was time to make a move.

They packed up their limited objects and started to hike to their destination. Anthony's memory proved useful as their journey was a long one. They made camp at the end of the day, very close to Jon's campsite, and therefore, the Cornucopia.

Morning came. Jason's cannon had boomed during the night, a result of a cobra in his sleeping bag. Only four left. Jon was the only real threat now. Anthony planned a strategy to win.

Vera sprinted towards the Cornucopia as the sun rose. Jon awoke and saw the tribute stealing his food. By the time he had grabbed his sword and chased after her, she had a good head start. But Jon was used to hard work in District Nine, so he was much faster and had more stamina. Vera wasn't concerned however, she knew her ally was going to help her.

Anthony, however, had a different plan in mind. He told Vera he would ambush Jon from behind, knowing that the older boy wouldn't expect any alliances. He knew that he could kill Jon when he was distracted by Vera. But Anthony had other objectives: to outlast his opponenets, including Vera. But by the time she realized her ally's betrayal, Jon had caught up to her and had his sword in her stomach.

When Anthony heard Vera's cannon, he jumped out from the boulder he was hiding behind and hefted a large rock onto his shoulder. He threw it at Jon, who was caught off guard. The rock connected with the boy with a sickening crack and a splash of blood. Another cannon boomed and Anthony was in the final two.

Anthony endured sleepless nights back at the Cornucopia, knowing that his actions caused his ally's death. That she was dead because of him. And that he killed someone in cold blood, in a rather gruesome way. He tried to reconcile with the fact that only one could win. That she was going to die anyway. But he still couldn't sleep at night.

Two days later, Isis died of hunger. Anthony woke up to hear the cannon and he knew that he won. The hovercraft picked him up from the arena as the third victor. But instead of triumph and euphoria, he only felt sadness. As he left the arena, a tear rolled down his cheek.

His relatives would later describe symptoms of PTSD in the victor. He would go back to a life of solitude in Victor's Village, trying to drown out his regret and pain and sorrow in drugs and alcohol. His life continued, but not in the way he expected. The dead bodies of Jon and Vera would haunt him for the rest of his days.

The Third Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Anthony Jennings favor...twenty-three others weren't as lucky.

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Arena idea submitted by Me4427. To submit an idea for a character or arena, just review the chapter and give me your thoughts!

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out how training influenced the Games. **


	4. Scoot Jordan (D7)

**4th Annual Hunger Games**

**Scoot Jordan-District 7**

Scoot never expected to be reaped; in fact the odds were in his favor with only eight slips in the reaping. But, like twenty three other children across Panem, reaped he was.

He was an only child of two timber workers in his district. At the time of his reaping, he was sixteen, old enough to have worked in the woods for two years. The skills he gathered from his job would prove very useful in the coming days.

The train arrived in the Capitol on time. The tributes were shown to their rooms in a hotel downtown. They were told that the Games would begin in two days time, one more than usual. The tributes were told nothing more, adding to their confusion.

That night, most tributes tried to get to know one another. Last year, alliances had proved to be essential. They knew that a similar situation might occur, in which knowing the opponent could save their life. Still, several tributes chose to be on the outside, in fear of not being able to kill people they knew well. Scoot was one of those tributes. He went to bed early, sleep being more essential than information.

Dawn arose, and a Gamemaker came to collect the tributes. He took all twenty four to the basement of the building. He explained that to give the tributes a better chance, equipment was provided to help them. He assured them that this day of training could give tributes an edge when they emerged in the arena. He forbade any fighting between tributes. After that, he released them in the massive gymnasium constructed for the tributes.

All that was there was weapons. Loads and loads of weapons. Long range, short range, sharp, blunt, big, small, simple, complicated. Everything that could possibly be in the arena was there.

Most tributes had never handled a weapon before. Scoot had some experience with an ax, but not enough to be proficient. He focused his attention on other weapons instead, hoping to have a wide range of skills when the Games came.

In that day, Scoot tried his hand at many different weapons, becoming fairly accurate with long range ones such as bows and throwing knives. He practiced on bull's eyes, and got better and better as the day progressed. Soon, he could hit the target every single time.

He also paid special attention to the other tributes, nothing which ones were good at which weapons. This information would prove to be useful later. By isolating himself from the other tributes, he felt he could be more prepared to kill them in the coming days.

Training day ended, and the Games began.

Once the tributes rose into the arena and the cannon sounded, most of them sprinted for the Cornucopia. With their extra experience with weapons, the tributes felt more confident. Especially considering that the Gamemakers supplied an abundant amount of weapons, all of which were in the training center.

Scoot laid his hands on a bow and quiver fairly quickly, before most of the other tributes. Weapons in hand, he went in for more supplies. He stole a backpack of food and three bottles of water. While the other tributes were focused on finding supplies, he looked to eliminate his competition. A boy from District Two searched for food nearby and Scoot remembered his superior strength in the gym, thereby making him a threat. He fired an arrow directly at him.

The arrow landed on target and the boy collapsed to the ground. The other tributes began to run away from the danger. The girl from Twelve took this opportunity to use her scythe to good use. The boy from Six retaliated in anger. As Joshua left, he noticed that no less than three separate fights had broken out in the confusion created by his arrow.

The tributes were much more deadly now that they had experience with weapons. The Gamemakers' idea to make the Games more violent by training the tributes had proven to be very successful. On the first day, five tributes died, a new record for the Games.

Scoot found himself in a good position. He had a weapon he was good with, as well as food and water. He explored the arena and found, to his delight, that there was a small area of pine trees. The woods were reminiscent of his home in District 7. He easily made camp in a tree. His knowledge of the area was golden for the coming days, when his survival skills were put to the test.

As usual, tributes began to die off one by one as the arena claimed them. Children from districts that were not used to nature lost tributes more quickly, such as One, Three, Five or Eight. Lack of food and water proved deadly like always. Instead of the Cornucopia spoils being left open for grabs, two tributes in an alliance guarded the food. The tributes without food and water died quickly.

Scoot had enough food for several days as long as he rationed it, which he did. He drank water from a stream nearby. For three days, he did not hear a word from another tribute, making his survival fairly easy.

On Day 4, as he was scrounging for food, Scoot heard a branch break. He spun around to see the girl from District 4 sneaking up on him with a knife in hand. He loosened an arrow from his bow. Unfortunately for him, he missed in his urgency. The girl tackled him and he went down. He got stabbed in the thigh by the time he wrestled the knife from her grasp. He took one of his arrows and stabbed downwards, right near her throat. A cannon boomed.

Wounded and afraid, Scoot dragged himself back to camp. He tried to clean out the wound as best he could with water from the river, but with his limited supplies, he could not get much accomplished. He couldn't climb the tree, so he camped out right below it. He hoped for a miracle to save him.

Three days passed. More and more tributes dropped out, whether from thirst, hunger, or other tributes. Scoot barely survived on edible berries and water. He could hardly move. But, in his general area he started to build traps. Small ones, used to catch animals back in Seven. He knew very little, but he had days to experiment. He hoped to catch some rabbits or squirrels. With the meat, he might have enough energy to recover. But, alas, he did not catch anything.

Only seven tributes were left by Day 8. The Gamemakers announced a feast for the following day. There was no way in hell Scoot could make it there, with his leg wound worsening by the day. He knew that medicine he needed could be at the feast, yet he was likely to be killed if he went. In the end, he opted not to go.

His decision paid off. The next day, as he lay close to death, he heard five cannons. Six! That left the playing field at only two. Scoot didn't know at the time, but the last person left was Anders, from District Nine. Since most of the tributes were starving in the unfamiliar arena, they all went to the feast, save Scoot of course. They used their skills in weaponry to kill as many as possible. Anders was the only one left. He had plenty of food and water, spoils of the feast. He felt replenished and healthy as he hunted for the final tribute.

Scoot knew that his time was up. Two days passed, and he was on the verge of death. He knew that all that stood between him and death was hours. The other tributes, whomever he was, was going to win no matter if he killed Scoot or not. But, as Scoot slipped into sleep for the last time, he heard a cannon.

Anders had walked straight into one of Scoot's traps and had bled to death.

The hovercraft airlifted Scoot out of the arena. He was treated instantly to help him survive. When he woke up, he was healed and already on a train back home to District Seven.

The Fourth Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Scoot Jordan's favor. Twenty three others weren't as lucky...

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out Teff from Nine managed to become the fifth victor.**


	5. Teff Hodlin (D9)

**5th Annual Hunger Games**

**Teff Hodlin-District 9**

Teff Hodlin was an ordinary boy in District Nine. He worked the grain fields from the time he was twelve to the time he was seventeen. His family was massive, which wasn't uncommon in his district. He had seven brothers and two sisters, all of whom helped out on the family farm. Teff was the second youngest, and therefore babied a little by his loving family. But all of that stopped the moment he was reaped at the age of 17.

He barely had enough time to say goodbye to his family when he boarded the train for the Capitol. The journey was long, as District Nine was on the outskirts of Panem. When he arrived, he was struck, as all tributes were, by the massive buildings that were staples of the city. Tributes had never been in a place with so many other people at once; it was hard to comprehend.

Teff, who was from a farming community, had a lot to take in. But still, he turned his attention to winning. In their hotel rooms, he got to know other tributes. He was wary of alliances, however, because he remembered how Anthony betrayed his ally in the Third Games. He wanted to go it alone. He didn't want to take the risk of an ally.

Training day came. It was still only the second year of the training, so tributes were still unsure of themselves. Most children tried out swords and knives, including Teff. Some sought out more unique weapons, such as bows, maces or tridents. One boy, Jeffery, had an impressive knack for axes. Some others stuck out as good fighters, Teff among them. His superior strength and size was proving useful.

At lunch, Jeffrey sat with Teff. He thought that Teff was the strongest competitor. Jeffrey asked Teff to be his ally in the Games, to increase both of their chances of winning. His mentor, Scoot (winner of the previous Games) had told him to seek out a strong ally in order to win. Teff was flattered, but also confused about it, as he thought alliances would be risky. However, he did know that he would rather fight with Jeffrey than against him, so the two formed a coalition.

The day passed with tributes building more skills. Teff became fairly good with a heavy sword while Jeffrey fought with a two-handed ax. When the tributes saw them train together and knew that they were allies, they became scared. Other alliances were quickly formed out of desperation.

The day of the Hunger Games came. Teff and Jeffrey's idea was to secure the Cornucopia so that no other tributes could take food. They thought that if they guarded the supplies, it would make the other tributes more likely to die off on their own.

So the first day came, and Teff and Jeffrey ran in for the weapons immediately. Jeffrey couldn't find an ax, so he settled for a knife instead. Teff took a large sword and set about eliminating as many tributes as possible. Between the two of them, they killed five tributes. Seven tributes total died on the first day, a new record for the Games.

Teff and Jeffrey moved the bodies out of the way of the Cornucopia. Soon, a giant hovercraft came and shot down a massive hook from the belly of the machine. The two boys were terrified and thought the Gamemakers were trying to kill them. However, the hovercraft simply collected the bodies of the dead tributes. They had become tired of showing the decaying corpses on TV.

Once the alliance saw the hovercraft meant no harm, they piled up all of the supplies in a heap. Bounties of weapons, caskets of food, and gallons of water. The weapons were pretty standard, just swords, bows, and knives. Jeffrey couldn't find his best weapon, an ax, so he continued to use his knife. That night, they feasted on meat, bread, cheese, fruit and whatever else they found in the spoils.

They spent two days at the Cornucopia. Both of them hesitated to leave because then tributes could steal their hard-earned food. However, they accomplished nothing in that time; no tributes were killed. They wanted the Game to go faster.

On Day 3, Jeffrey volunteered to go out and hunt tributes. He told Teff to stay behind and guard the food. The boy from Seven was equipped with a knife and a backpack with enough food and water for several days. He told Teff that he would be back in a few days, hopefully after several cannons.

On Day 5, (after the deaths of four tributes, one of whom was killed by Jeffrey) Teff was approached by a girl walking towards the Cornucopia. He immediately grabbed his sword and ran to kill her. However, he was shocked to see her drop her weapon and hold up her hands in surrender. Confused, he asked what she was doing. After a brief bit of dialogue he realized that Jeanine from District Two wanted to be his ally. She saw how much food he had and thought she would last longer with an alliance. Teff debated it: on one hand Jeanine was good with a sword, on the other, she could betray him pretty easily.

He eventually decided to help her out. Teff allowed her in his camp and gave her food and water. She wasn't able to find food on her own very well. Her strengths layed more in the area of slashing and slicing at things, not knowledge of edible plants. Even though the arena was a standard forrest, she still struggled to survive and therefore was weak from hunger.

That night, Teff took watch the whole time, not completely trusting Jeanine yet. She went to sleep quickly, not realizing that her ally wasn't comfortable with her. But neither of them had any intention of killing the other. Their alliance was sound.

On Day 6, Jeffrey came back in the morning. Jeffrey immediately tried to kill Jeanine while she lay sleeping, not realizing that she was now part of the alliance, and was only stopped last minute by Teff. The two allies argued about it. Jeffrey was mad that Teff let someone into the alliance without him and Teff was mad that Jeffrey tried to kill his ally. Jeanine awoke and managed to calm down Jeffrey. The three formed an uneasy bond, one that could break very quickly. There was a great deal of mistrust between Jeffrey and his allies.

Jeanine, Teff, and Jeffrey survived for the next week fairly easily. Not one of them left the Cornucopia for more than a few hours. Cannons continued to boom, at least one a day. In the forest, multiple alliances clashed again and again, leaving fewer and fewer tributes as time went on. On Day 16, a feast occurred, and five more cannons fired. There were now only eight tributes left alive.

Meanwhile, the alliance of three divided up the remaining food. Their alliance was shaky, but still had enough stability to last.

Unbeknownst to the alliance, four of the five remaining tributes had made an alliance. They had little food, so they tried to make a plan to steal food from Teff and his alliance. It was life or death; without food they would all starve within days. They quickly hatched a plan.

Midnight, Day 20. The alliance of three was left sleeping. Teff awoke to an unusual twinging sound. It didn't take him long to realize that it was arrows raining down on the camp.

He woke the others and discovered tributes raiding their food storage. Teff grabbed his sword and tried to catch up to one of them. A chaotic battle ensued. Teff, Jeffrey, and Jeanine were much stronger than the other alliance, so they managed to take down many of them. They split up, trying to get as many tributes as possible. The darkness of the night only added to their confusion. But even with the alliance of three disoriented and nearly blind, the other alliance was destroyed, all four of them dead. Teff killed two himself, while Jeanine and Jeffrey killed one each.

Teff and his alliance trooped back to their camp. All three had survived, and only Jeanine was injured. Meanwhile, Jeffrey had miscounted the number of cannons and he thought that the three of them were the last ones in the arena. Teff turned around after drinking some water to see Jeffrey swinging a sword at him. Jeffrey decided to betray his alliance to win.

Teff was already tired from the previous battle, so he raised his sword in defense rather weakly. The two tributes fought, their alliance gone. Jeanine was wounded, but she knew that Jeffrey would kill her if he won the fight. She grabbed her sword and attacked Jeffrey.

Jeffrey found himself being attacked by two former allies. His plan had failed. In a last ditch effort, he stabbed Jeanine, only to be beheaded by Teff. He was left with a dead body of his former ally and one more ally who was slowly dying.

Jeanine's cannon fired in the night. Her wounds were too strong for the medicine Teff procured and she bled to death quietly. In a moment that made everyone in the Capitol entranced, he held her hand while she slipped out of the world.

In the chaos of Day 20, Teff almost forgot how many tributes were left. The other girl was actually named Lisa from District 1. They were the last two. Teff set out to go and find the remaining tribute, but she hid from him. Her strategy the whole Games had been to hide, and she had become very apt at it. After three days of searching, Teff was running low on food. He needn't be worried, however. Lisa died after eating poisonous berries. The cannon fired on Day 24 and Teff was deemed the victor. He was airlifted out of the arena and rejoined his family back in his home district.

The Fifth Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Teff Hodlin's favor, twenty three others were not as fortunate...

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out how the addition of mutts affects the Games. **


	6. Sanus Chinsky (D4)

**6th Annual Hunger Games**

**Sanus Chinsky-District 4**

A massive surprise shocked audiences in the Sixth Hunger Games, one that the Gamemakers had been plotting for quite a while. The Games introduced a new element: muttations.

Sanus, the eventual winner, hailed from a small fishing village in District Four. Fishing was still being industrialized, so much of the area was still dependent on family fisheries, like the ones Sanus was a part of. He awoke every morning before dawn and spent an entire day using nets to catch as many fish as possible. On the coastline, he had several lines and buoys to signal where the nets were. He reeled in the nets every day and painstakingly took the fish from the sea. He gutted them with his handy knife and boiled a few for supper. The rest were handed to his mother to trade at the market.

Sanus's life was simple and peaceful. District Four had rebuilt itself after the devastating war that rocked Panem, so the district was largely restored from the rebellion. Sanus had a medium sized family and a simple life that he enjoyed. But he still applied for tesserae to help feed his family and to give himself something other than fish to eat. Those tesserae slips built up, so it was no surprise when Sanus was reaped for the Games when he was eighteen.

After a tearful goodbye to his mother and father, Sanus departed for the Capitol. District Four was pretty close to the city, so the train ride was short. He had plenty of time to see the massive city.

That night, he formed an alliance with his district partner, Meredith. They grew up in towns that were close to each other, and they had met before the Games. Both of them had strong, lean bodies from years of fishing. They would do well together.

Training day came. Meredith and Sanus both tried as many new weapons as possible. They both excelled at the sword; their strength coming in handy. Sanus also tried learning archery, but only became moderately adept at it.

Lunchtime arrived, and just like before, alliances were formed. Sanus remarked to Meredith that he thought it best to gather more allies, the strongest ones. She agreed, although rather reluctantly.

The two tributes Sanus wanted for his alliance were Jonas and Richard, from Districts Six and One respectively. Both of them agreed to his offer and the alliance was formed. Meredith, Sanus, Jonas, and Richard became the largest and strongest alliance so far in all of the Hunger Games.

The four tributes tackled strategy. They essentially wanted to do exactly what had happened at the last Games: hold the Cornucopia and hunt the rest of the tributes down. They planned to get as many as possible on the first day, just as Teff's alliance had done last Games. Their strategy decided, the four of them went to bed feeling confident.

The first day of the Games arrived. Sanus and his allies rose up all around a giant Cornucopia. Only one problem...they couldn't see it.

The whole arena was covered with long grains of grass, about four or five feet tall. It obstructed the view of almost every tribute. Only a few of the tallest tributes could actually see-and then only if they stood on their toes.

When the gong sounded, almost every tribute sprinted for the supplies they knew were ahead. The grass made it easy to hide from other tributes. Some of the smaller children stole supplies and weapons and escaped without ever being noticed. The Cornucopia itself was in a small clearing, maybe thirty feet wide, without any grass. Still, most tributes escaped, and Sanus's alliance killed only three.

The alliance disposed of the bodies in the long grass. They picked out weapons for themselves. Sanus and Meredith picked out strong swords while Jonas and Richard opted for spears. Sanus also used a bow to practice his archery.

Because the tributes managed to steal more food than usual, not very much was left for the alliance. They reckoned they had only a few days' worth left, which was not nearly enough to last the entirety of the Games.

On the second day, Sanus and Richard decided to go out and try to both hunt other tributes and find food for the rest of the alliance. Meredith and Jonas were to stay behind.

Sanus and Richard explored the arena. It was the smallest arena yet, only two miles wide. However, it had the grass cover the entire thing, meaning that tributes could hide almost everywhere. There were a few trees and one river, but the four foot grass dominated the arena.

While the arena was perfect for stealth, it was hard to scavenge in. Some of the grain was edible, as well as some root vegetables hidden about, but most tributes had no knowledge of these plants. They couldn't find prey in the harsh environment. Most tributes began running low on food within days of the opening gong and several died of either thirst or hunger during that time span. Only fifteen were left by the sixth day.

Sanus and Richard couldn't find any tributes within the first three days of their hunt. They came very close, but the other children escaped in the grass every time. Eventually they found the river and spent a day trying to fish with some nets they stole from the Cornucopia. Sanus was very adept at this, obviously, so he caught enough food to feed their entire alliance for several days.

Meanwhile, Meredith and Jonas were not getting along. Meredith wanted to ration their remaining food to conserve it for later use. Jonas wanted to eat as much as possible. They argued constantly. Finally on Day 6, Jonas suggested that they kill Sanus and Richard so that they would have more food and last longer. Meredith felt outrage, and a fight broke out between them. Jonas won when he drew his spear on a surprised Meredith and stabbed her in the gut.

When Sanus and Richard heard the cannon, they assumed it was another tribute who died of hunger. However, it was one of their allies, slain by someone they thought was a friend.

On Day 6, a few hours after Meredith's death, Richard and Jonas crept back into camp expecting to find both allies still alive.

However, they found only Jonas back at the Cornucopia.

He told Richard and Sanus that another tribute killed Meredith, stole some food, and ran away in the grass. Richard and Sanus believed him, because they never thought their ally would lie. That night they grieved for her death alongside her killer.

Another cannon sounded when a tribute killed his ally to eat his food, but other than that is was a quiet night. The three allies just wanted to wait out the competition at that point.

Once night fell, Sanus walked over to Meredith's body, which was a hundred yards from the Cornucopia. He saw the fatal injury on her side and noticed that it matched Jonas's spear perfectly. He found the said spear and found traces of blood on it. Sanus now knew that his ally killed his district partner.

Before he could do anything about it, the Gamemakers unleashed a new terror: mutts.

In cages placed throughout the arena, snake mutts were released. They were about as long as a human being and as thick as a torso. They had no venom, instead killing by wrapping around tributes and suffocating them. They were slow, however there were hundreds of them. They were incredibly deadly.

Sanus found of the mutts as he walked back to the camp. It blocked his path forward. Sanus was terrified of the beast and tried to run away. Sanus found himself running into the grasslands. The snakes were identically colored to the grains. That, combined with the darkness of night, made them impossible to see. Luckily Sanus had his sword with him, so he could kill any snakes that approached him. But he had a deep terror of the mutts, not knowing where they were. He had a constant feeling that a mutt was right behind him...

He spent the whole night awake, knowing that the snakes would kill him if he slept. He wandered the arena the whole time, completely lost in the grass. Cannons went off the whole time. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...soon he lost count. Amidst the cannons were the screams of the mutts' victims.

Once the night was over, the mutts all went away. The arena was safe again. But eleven tributes died in the night, died from horrific deaths, leaving only three left to play.

Sanus saw in the sky that his ally Richard was dead. That meant that Sanus, Jonas, and another tribute were the only ones left.

Sanus spent his remaining days fishing in the river. He was too traumatized from the horrible night to go into the grass again, instead staying by the riverbank. He had enough food to last awhile, so he hoped the other tributes would die on their own.

On Day 10, another cannon boomed. Jonas killed the last remaining tribute, his own district partner. Now only the two remaining allies were left. Jonas started to hunt for Sanus.

Sanus was found on Day 12. Jonas crept up behind him and waited...Once he saw Sanus leave his sword behind and start to fish, he pounced.

Jonas drew his sword and ran up behind Sanus. Sanus, realizing the danger, dodged the attack. Sanus had no weapon to fight with, so he used his superior strength to knock the sword out of Jonas's hand. Now both of the tributes were weaponless.

Sanus, seizing the opportunity to end it, pushed Jonas into the river. He held the boy underwater, hoping to drown him. Jonas kicked and struggled to get free, but eventually the lack of oxygen weakened him. After a few minutes, a cannon boomed.

Sanus became the victor of the Sixth Annual Hunger Games.

The Sixth Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Sanus Chinsky's favor...twenty three others were not as fortunate.

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Character idea submitted by thechinskyguy. To submit an idea for a character or arena, just review the chapter and give me your thoughts!

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Find out how sponsoring affects the Seventh Hunger Games. **


	7. Cowrie Menedith (D4)

**7th Annual Hunger Games**

**Cowrie Menedith- District 4**

Cowrie Mededith held none of the advantages had previously had. She was not physically strong, not skilled with a particular weapon, and knew nothing of how to survive. She was raised by a wealthy family in the richest part of District Four. An au pair had cared for her since she was little, so she hardly knew her parents. But she had several servants, luxurious meals, and a huge mansion that she called home. Her upbringing did not bring to mind the childhood of a Hunger Games victor...however Cowrie was not a normal Hunger Games victor.

She was fifteen when reaped, and she only had four slips in the reaping bowl. Cowrie was shocked when it turned out she was chosen as the tribute from District Four. The odds had been in her favor, but yet, she was still picked.

In the Capitol, she was taken to her luxurious room. Other than a few new appliances and electronics, it was similar to her home in District Four. Cowrie didn't care. She resigned to dying in the Games and losing to her strong competitors. She cried herself to sleep that night.

The next morning she awoke and went down to the giant gym for training. She only did so to appease the Gamemakers; she was terrified of the sharp weapons and didn't want to go near them. However, when she arrived, the Gamemakers had a new announcement.

Because about half of tributes die from natural causes in the Games, they would make a new rule to help stop this from happening. Sponsoring would be started: a system that would allow citizens of Panem to buy supplies for tributes as well as weapons, food and water. Items would be delivered by parachute during the Games by the tributes' mentor. If the tribute did not have a mentor, a Gamemaker would be assigned to them to help determine when the supplies should be delivered.

Cowrie was elated. Now she felt she had a chance. Once she finished with training (after using some basic blunt weapons like nunchucks instead of swords), she went to see her mentor, Sanus. This was his first year as mentor, so he was fairly inexperienced. Cowrie told Sanus her plan of hiding the whole Games and receiving his aid when need be. He advised against it, instead telling her to get as many allies as possible, because that's how he won. However, Cowrie thought it too risky, and went in alone.

The first day arrived. Cowrie rose into the arena terrified. She had no allies and no real strategy. She really had no outdoor experience at all. All of the confidence she felt yesterday evaporated in the morning sun.

The gong went off and the Games began. Cowrie instantly fled the Cornucopia and into the nearby woods. The arena that year was on a mountain, with the Cornucopia near the top and the whole rest of the mountain ready for the tributes to explore/kill each other.

Nineteen tributes ran in for supplies. However, they found only weapons. The Gamemakers had put no food in the Cornucopia at all, leaving the tributes to fight for things like matches and water bottles instead. Since there were so many weapons, eight tributes died, including Cowrie's district partner.

Meanwhile, Cowrie was sprinting down the slightly steep slope as fast as she could go, desperate to escape the tributes behind her. She tripped a few times in the forest, but overall she was fine. That night, she camped out by a fallen tree. She had no water, no food, and no shelter. Needless to say, it was the worst night of her life.

Her parents were frantically donating as much money as possible for Cowrie's cause. The sponsor gifts were cheap when compared to what they spent on their house or their servants, and they wanted their daughter back more than some of those things. So when Cowrie woke up, she found a small feast floating down from above just for her, a gift from Sanus.

For the next three days, Cowrie survived only on her sponsor gifts. And she had many. Other tributes had some too, but nearly as many as she did. The only people who paid for their gifts were their families or friends. Most of the tributes came from poor households, so they had little wealth. However, the sponsors were very helpful in lending water when a tribute was thirsty or something small like matches or rope. Every little thing made a difference.

As was the norm for the last few Games, an alliance of five tributes had taken over the Cornucopia. The only problem was, they had no food. Just weapons. So, on the fourth day when their sponsor gifts ran out, they headed off into the wilderness to try and kill some tributes to make the Games end sooner.

Even with the sponsor gifts, tributes were still running out of food. Starvation was common, however dehydration wasn't an issue due to the many rivers and streams in the arena. By Day 5, one more tribute was dead and almost all of the others were slowly starving to death.

On Day 6, Cowrie headed to the Cornucopia, knowing that the alliance had ditched it. It was a hard day's journey up the mountain but she made it. At dusk on Day 6, she found the top of the mountain and camped out inside the giant golden statue. She survived on her sponsor rations for the next few days. A few tributes came by to steal some weapons, but she simply hid from them in the surrounding woods. She avoided fights at all cost because she knew that they would leave her defeated.

On Day 12, with eleven tributes left alive, a feast was announced to take place the following day at the Cornucopia. Cowrie instantly knew she needed to flee. She packed up her food and even took a few knives with her as she escaped the scene. She walked in the forest for a few hours and made camp in a thicket of trees.

Day 13: the feast. Five tributes died in the fight for food. Cowrie was close enough to the battle to hear the screams of the dying as well as the cannons. During the feast, the large alliance turned on one another in the savage fight, leaving only two left alive from those allied together. With the alliance gone, Cowrie now stood a decent chance.

Unfortunately for her, her chances worsened on Day 16. She had moved back to the Cornucopia where she was hiding from the remaining five tributes. Again, she ate the sponsor food. However, her parents stopped sending money. They simply could not bear to sell their house or jewelry to help their daughter survive. Cowrie was on her own.

A day passed by with no more food. Cowrie became distraught once she realized that nothing more was coming. She had no way to find food in the wild by herself. Even though she had made it to the final six, she was going no further...at least, that's what she thought.

On Day 19, after days of no food to make her weak and desperate, Cowrie heard something in the forest. She hid in the Cornucopia as two tributes approached: the boy and girl from District 11. They had come to collect weapons to fight with. But Cowrie didn't care about that; she only saw the packs of food strapped to their backs.

As they walked closer and closer to the Cornucopia, Cowrie waited. She had a knife, but that was it. What she was about to do was something she had never done before. She was sick with nervousness. But it was the Hunger Games after all, and there were no rules.

The boy was picking out a spear when Cowrie attacked. She leapt out from behind the giant golden horn and stabbed him in the back while he wasn't looking. He cried out in pain as he collapsed. The girl from 11 heard him and shot an arrow at Cowrie. She ducked and then sprinted towards her rival and attacked. Thankfully for Cowrie, her knife hit the girl from Eleven's neck. She fell to the ground and started to drown in her own blood. Meanwhile the boy had already died. The cannons were a relief to Cowrie, who was traumatized by what she had done.

The next five days were easy for Cowrie. She had plenty of food from her kills and only three other opponents. By Day 24, all of them had starved to death and Cowrie was the victor. She returned home to District Four to parents that stopped paying for her because their material possessions were more important than their daughter's life. And even though she had money and fame, nothing would ever erase the horrors she had been through. She had plenty of money but nothing to live for. Cowrie's life may as well have ended in the arena.

The Seventh Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Cowrie Menedith's favor...twenty three other were not as lucky...

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I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who have followed/favorited/reviewed this story! The response has been very positive so far which is awesome for me! You can suggest a character or arena if you want to contribute more, it's always appreciated! If you like this fanfic, check out my other stories or even the community I made. Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the future chapters!

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**TO BE CONTINUED: Panem is shocked when the words, "I volunteer as tribute" are first uttered. **


	8. Glam Knoles (D1)

**8th Annual Hunger Games**

**Glam Knoles- District 1**

The reaping for the Eighth Hunger Games came and went, but not without massive surprises for the tributes and non-tributes alike.

Claudia Hanson was chosen as the female tribute from district Ten. She was shocked, and for good reason; her name had only been in twice as a thirteen-year-old. Before she could walk up to the stage, her older sister, Hanna, ran over and enveloped her in a hug. They exchanged tears and comforting words. Then a Peacekeeper came over to take away the younger Hanson. Except...Hanna wouldn't let that happen.

She started pleading with the Peacekeepers to take her instead. That she would rather die than let her sister go into the Hunger Games. The Peacekeepers didn't care. However, the mayor began to read through the Treaty of Treason and noticed that there was no rule that forbade volunteers. The mayor started to negotiate with the Peacekeepers to allow the older sister entry into the Games. Then, tears streaming down her face, Hanna became a tribute.

The Gamemakers were furious with District Ten. They defied the Capitol's rules based off of a loophole. They immediately started to compose a better worded Treaty of Treason to forbade any volunteers and issue a harsh warning to the mayor of Ten.

However, response to Hanna's choice was not negative at all. In fact, the citizens of the Capitol took to the young heroine. She was the most hotly contested tribute by far because of the stunt she pulled. Most people began to donate money to give her sponsor items. Panem loved volunteers.

The Gamemakers decided to write an amendment to the Treaty of Treason to allow volunteers. They said that the first volunteer would be allowed to be in the Games, as long as the volunteer was the correct age and gender for the tournament. They announced the decision on national TV to widespread excitement. The latest development meant that the Hunger Games were on their way to becoming the thing to watch... at least for people who didn't have loved ones as contestants.

And then the first day arrived. As usual, alliances were made beforehand. Most tributes had an alliance with at least one other person to guarantee safety in numbers. They had seen how useful the alliances were and wanted to last as long as possible. The Eighth Games consisted of the most amount of alliances to date, with 21 of the 24 tributes with at least one ally.

The tributes rose into their platforms and immediately noticed something: a putrid odor. They were in a swamp arena, and the murky green water gave off a horrid smell of rotting flesh. Holding their noses, the tributes dashed forward to grab supplies and weapons needed for survival. Because of the huge number of alliances, several fights broke out almost instantaneously between tributes. Within minutes, eight tributes were dead. Henceforth, the opening minutes of the Hunger Games were referred to as the bloodbath because of the massive number of casualties.

With Hanna dead in the bloodbath, Capitol audiences turned to other tributes to follow with enthusiasm. Two major alliances formed, much to the delight of viewers in the Capitol. Two tributes, both from District 10, held the Cornucopia. They had the advantages of plenty of food, water, and supplies to live off of. Another group of four tributes roamed the arena looking for people to kill. They included Glam from District One, Josiah from District Three and Sannie from District Five. Most of the other tributes were scattered and were focused on survival and avoiding detection.

Glam's alliance discovered very quickly that the murky swamp water was dangerous...in more ways than one. Not only was the water harmful to drink, but some sort of mutts resided in them. On Day 2, Glam's alliance found another tribute, the male from District 4, and started to hunt him. He started to swim to escape the pack but before he could cross the body of water a large beast, similar to an alligator, ate him alive. Horrified, Glam heard the cannon and knew that the water was no longer safe.

The alliance of four continued their trek through the swamp. The ground was spongy and soft, and was hard to walk through quickly. With the group determined to avoid water, they had to make long journeys around various rivers and ponds.

Worse still were the challenges of finding fresh water and food. Sannie came from a relatively rich family, so they sent some food and water. Some Capitol folks sponsored them out of pity. However, the money soon dried up.

They realized that the only way to survive was to kill other tributes and steal their supplies. They were completely lost in the swampy forest, so they had no idea where the Cornucopia was. Their only shot was to look for tributes on their own. They went hunting day and night. They found tributes, yes, but they had meager supplies and only one of them had any water. Glam used her knives to track and kill some birds, but they proved meager pickings for the four hungry teenagers. Thirst was a constant issue for the alliance; rainwater was the only thing keeping them alive.

By Day 13, only eleven tributes were still alive. Glam's alliance, the District 10 pair, and five other tributes surviving on their own. Either the swamp monsters, infection, thirst or Glam's alliance killed the rest.

On Day 14, Glam started noticed peculiarities with Jocelyn. He had a greenish tinge to his face and retched once after eating a meal. When confronted, he admitted he drank the swamp water out of desperation. The alliance realized that he was infected with some sort of bacterial illness.

The next few days passed slowly for the alliance. They didn't travel at all; they chose to sit out in a massive tree and try to heal Jocelyn. He was getting worse and worse, and by Day 18 he wasn't able to move anymore.

They tried feeding him and giving him fresh rainwater but he wasn't responding. They hadn't received any sponsor gifts in a week so that wasn't an option. They simply hoped that he would recover. Glam had other things in mind.

On the evening on the eighteenth day, she snuck into his shelter with a piece of rope in her hand. She quickly strangled him to death. She was sick of waiting around for him to heal, wasting time in the arena, when it was clear to her that it was never going to happen. She knew that only one could win and she would do anything in her power to make that person be her.

When Josiah and Sannie heard the cannon they quickly ran into the tent. Glam made up a story about watching him pass away in his sleep but Sannie saw the bruises on his neck and knew she was lying. He turned to Glam and accused her of murder.

Glam was out of options. She knew she was unlikely to take on both of the boys by herself. She couldn't talk her way out of the hasty decision she made. She simply turned and ran.

A brief chase ensued, by the end of which Glam escaped with sheer luck. As Glam was caught by Josiah, he slipped on some mud and tumbled into the murky pond. He screamed as the swamp monster dragged him under. Glam pushed Sannie, distracted by his friend's situation, into the water. Two cannons signaled their deaths.

Glam trekked back to their encampment and kept trying to survive on her own. The alliance's rations, meant for four people, lasted her a few days. Only four tributes were still alive, so Glam had a good chance of outlasting them.

By Day 21, Glam was in the final two. The other tribute was Dustin from District Ten who had just killed his ally to steal her food. As Glam was hunting for food, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Dustin, running through the swamp looking for her. She quickly hefted her knife in her hand and threw it at his back. It hit him perfectly in the shoulder blade and he fell to the ground, fatally injured. Glam ran over and slit his throat, a move that solidified her as the victor.

The Eighth Hunger Games are finished. The odds were in Glam Knoles' favor...twenty three other were not as fortunate.

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Arena idea submitted by XxEmbraceTheWeirdnessxX. To submit your idea for a character or arena, just leave a review! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I have been super busy. From now on, I will only make a new chapter once a week max. It's simply too much for me to do more than that.

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**TO BE CONTINUED: The Gamemakers institute traps in the arena, much to the horror of the tributes. **


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